Received my bottle today and first and foremost Id like to give incOgnito a huge thank you for giving us a heads up on this one! WOW! That was the first thing that came out of mine and my girlfriends mouth when I sprayed this. This stuff is really amazing. Fans of Dior Leather Oud are going to love this. To me the opening smells similar to Leather Oud with out the leather note in it and the smoky Oudh turned down just a notch. I get the reference to 1270 by Frapin and SDV by Guerlain but not Dior Homme or L'instant. I also get a resemblance to Halston Man Amber here in the way the Oudh note is handled, more of the "Bakhoor" incense Oudh wood chips, than the barnyard skankiness, hence the name "Raghba Arabic Bakhoor".

This is definitely a sweet fragrance made with quality ingredients. The main notes are vanilla, brown liquor (hard to tell which, is it whiskey? rum? cognac? brandy?), burnt sugar, smoky oudh, and a little spice thrown in. Longevity and projection are well above average for me, going on for 8+ hrs. now. It fills a large hole in my wardrobe as I didnt really have any sweet smoky scents and this one does the job wonderfully. Thanks again incOgnito, great find!

PS I also ordered another frag from this vendor called Oudh Al Abiyad by Rasasi which is a floral, woody, musky oudh based frag that I havent tried yet but Ill keep everyone posted once I give it a go.

I do like it, a sweet heavier scent with a booze kind of smell. There seems to be something/some things else in it that .. don't smell western? Perhaps something more native to middle-eastern perfumery?

Overall, I like it thus far. And was only $27.99 to boot (got in before the price hike ).

Edit: So, I compared the bottle with my 1270 bottle, and man, they are.. really similar.
Was this an attempt as an imitation/clone of 1270? They smell kind of similar, but different as well; but comparing the glass bottles.. really similar, even where the glass was... 'fused' together at?

I received mine today. Had it on for about half an hour. I don't have any of the other designer fragrances mentioned in this thread, so I can't compare. Furthermore, my nose is lousy at picking up notes. All I can say is it is very dry, very woody and very smoky. Kind of like the best smelling bbq you could imagine.

Alright, so I got mine two nights ago, and gave it a quick limited testing before bed that night on one arm, and gave it a full wearing today.

So here goes...

Right off the bat in the opening, it honestly reminded me of essentially straight vanilla. I think the "boozy" quality comes from the fact that it smells boozy in the same way that straight vanilla extract would smell boozy (as the real stuff is something like 50 proof or something like that). To me, honestly, the opening on this one seems like it would be comparable to just going down to your local market, buying a bottle of vanilla extract, putting it in an atomizer, and spraying it on.

I personally found it to be a cheap smelling vanilla over a one that I would define as rich/smooth. There's some other stuff playing around subtly, but it's hard to pick up exactly what at first, as the vanilla is more of a candy/extract sort of vanilla and dominates the fragrance as it's working as the star vs. a supporting role. I wouldn't say that I find the vanilla in this one rich as much as I find it punchy.

After a while, we do get the musk coming out, and a little bit more of the rest of what it's blended with, though I wouldn't define it as really "musky" as the vanilla maintains its prominence.

Honestly, I don't find it very complex or rich, and except for when the musky-ish spice announces its presence, is fairly linear, but that aside, I really don't find it bad either. The comparisons of 1270, SDV, DHI, LIDGE are lost on me, as I don't find it similar to any of those at all, and I've never smelled 24 Gold, so I can't comment on that.

If I was given the choice again, I don't think I would buy it, but I'm not displeased to own it. It didn't cost much, and I do appreciate that the OP recommended it, as the price really was a bargain, and I can see myself wearing it every now and again.

In short I would put it like this. My preference is steak and sushi. Given the option and budget (which I don't have ) I would eat those with some frequency. However, there are times when I just feel like grabbing a burger from McDonalds, and am quite happy to eat there, and enjoy what I eat when I do go there. I would never compare a Big Mac to a Kobe steak, but can enjoy both when the mood strikes me. I don't find Raghba more than just a decent cheapie. Pleasant, but not groundbreaking for me personally. To me it smells cheap but it has pleasant qualities as well, and I'm satisfied with it over all, though can't honestly say I'd recommend it.

Longevity is pretty good, and I can't comment for sillage except for that I received positive feedback on it, but that was only about 20 minutes after application, so I can't really use that to gauge anything.

Thanks to the OP for giving me the heads up on this. Who knows, after subsequent wearings, maybe I'll come to enjoy it more, as I know that's happened to me with other frags in the past.

As soon as I receive the sample that Georgio sent me I'll be testing it, and I'll let you guys know what I think of it. Since I'm aware of how every fragrance that this one is compared to smells like I can't even wait to try it out!

The bottle itself isn't half bad, with a "slight" influence from Frapin, I have to say. Hehe.

Raghba stays classy by having some letters on my flask been obscured / have scratched away, but hey, it's 20 usd so who cares.

About the fragrance itself, I sprayed it on my hand five minutes ago, and per now I'm getting a sort of subdued vanilla, caramel, some warmth that's probably amber or honey-notes and a tiny bit of spice. It's actually pretty nice, I have to say. Not strong on me (but my skin is eating fragrance like fat kids eat lesser kids) so I can't comment too much on silage / projection.

It does not - as I'd imagine - smell "cheap". I can't quite put to words what I define "cheap" as, but it sure as hell isn't this.

I can see the DHI-comparison, and probably also the drydown of LIDGE right now. I can't comment much on the 1270-reference, seeing as I for some absurd reason haven't had a chance to sample it yet.

For now - I'm amazed over what 20 usd has bought me, which is 100 ml of something that smells pretty damn decent and could at least cost 50 usd easily. I'll report back after a couple of hours more to get a feel for the drydown.

Okay, so I recieved my sample two days ago, from the very kind Mr. Geo! Thank you so much for that. I'm not the best when it comes to writing in English, but I'll try my best.

First of all, I would like to make something very clear. This fragrance does to me not smell like either one of the fragrances it has been compared to (exept from 24 Gold which I haven't smelled yet, could someone provide me with a sample? )
Second of all, I freakin' love this juice!

So right of the bat I get this sweet punch-in-the-face of vanilla. Not the creamy type of vanilla, this vanilla is boozy and dusty, in a good way. I sometimes get the impression of a much more vanillic Bvlgari Black dry down. Kind of like a faint rubber tire soaked in vanilla. Maybe that's the incense I'm smelling? And sometimes I get the impression of the honey note from Ambre Narguile, which I love and own a full bottle of. At this stage I'm about 30 minutes in, and it's projecting beautifully.

To be honest, this fragrance gets a bit boring as time progresses, due to it's linearity. It does change, but not much. And when it does change, it changes into something flat and less interesting than what the opening gave me. After 2-3 hours, the impression of a more vanillic Bvlgari Black and Ambre Narguile fades quickly, giving alot of space to the musk. At this stage, it's all vanilla and musk. And it stays that way for the rest of Raghbas duration

Longevity:
I got at least 7 hours every time.

Projection:
Projects really good for 3-4 hours until it dies down to a skin scent. Massive sillage btw!

Final words:
It's not that it doesn't smell good, cause it does. I just wished the opening lasted a bit longer than it did, since the rest isn't as good. But I can't complain, not at all. The fact that it's a pretty damn cheap fragrance and that it smells wonderful from start to finish without having problems with either projection and longevity is amazing. I'm giving this juice a 9 out of 10.

I too get this smokey, dusty vanilla from it - mixed with something I'm tempted to call "arabic" without really knowing what I'm referring to.

I did get about eight hours longevity out of it, but I can't really comment on sillage yet.

Is this fragrance for me? Probably not. It's a tad too rich vanilla-wise and that's something I really can't deal well with. It's still not a bad fragrance though, but to me it has that unmistakable "arabic" vibe I don't even get from Amouage. Weirdness ...